独一无二, 无尽的爱

Last week, I finally bought an electronic public transportation card in Beijing (the blue card in the picture 交通 一卡通). When I was in Shanghai, I found the SH Public Transportation Card (or simply 上海公共交通卡) very convenient. After buying the card for 25rmb, you just had to replenish the prepaid credits everytime u used it. You could use it to pay for buses, metros and taxi fares. Actually, the SH card on the picture (the greenish one at the bottom) is an old one, and at the time, I paid a deposit for the card, one didn’t actually buy it. The new SH card has a nice picture on it. I know in HK, you even buy things at the convenient stores with the equivalent card there.

So when I found that Beijing had also introduced that type of card, I was very happy. However, the Chinese students got me confused as they initially kept saying Beijing had bus cards, but not metro cards, or that these were separate things, bla bla bla . . . . After verifying with other people, I found that there is an electronic card for both buses and metro (taxis don’t use this so far). But then again, someone told me you had to have a picture of you and your ID to buy this. . . . More confusion.

Last week I decided to take the plunge after ensuring that you didn’t need any picture, that anyone could buy these, and that the unused money at the end of month would not be lost (the bus only monthly card does not carry forward). And I got my new Beijing transportation card for 20rmb (plus I added 30rmb worth of credit in it).

Why bother about the transportation card? Well, if you don’t really use the public transport system, maybe it’s not worth it, but you have to realise, often when you are in a hurry and need to take the metro to go somewhere, there just happen to be a long queue at the sole working ticket office, and you don’t have small change to buy a ticket at the automatic vending machine (only in SH, none in BJ). So you are left to queue up and lose several minutes while the lady at the ticket office slowly give out the appropriate tickets to each person in front of you. And in some buses you are supposed to put the exact fare in a box, no change given. We don’t always have 1rmb coins with us.

What makes it even more worthwhile in Beijing is that the bus fare which would have been 1rmb is only 0.4rmb (or 4 mao as we say here) with the electronic card. For students, it is 0.2rmb! Students do need their picture and student ID on buying the card. So if u take the bus, you will slowly recover the amount paid for the card, and even make savings. :D

Now I just need to check if the scanner still detect the card when it’s in my wallet or bag. That’s how everyone use it in SH. Well, it works unless it’s in the middle of those huge, full of junks, lady handbags, in which case you feel annoyed with the lady in front of you for not taking it out instead of repeatingly swiping her bag uselessly a dozen time before finally taking the card/wallet out. And it probably can work for the BJ one too, but so far everyone seem to be taking it out to swipe over the scanner, so I’m a bit hesitant.